Your Daily Guide

Paying Up for the Ritz-Carlton Development

The new owner of the Portland Ritz-Carlton property has agreed to pay the city $7.8 million. That’s the sum the building's original developer owed the city for failing to build required affordable housing (simply paying a fee was an option under the city’s rules). The Oregonian has followed this story for years. [Oregonian]

• Back-and-forth on including affordable units: The developer Walter Bowen initially said he planned to include 27 condos affordable to working-class families among the high-end properties. But he backtracked — and was slow to pay the fee in lieu of providing the housing. [Oregonian]
• Context: Starting in 2107, Portland required developers of buildings with 20-plus units to include affordable housing. That program seemed to push some developers away from the city, but updates that were made to the rule in 2024 are showing some promise. [Sightline Institute]
• Foreclosure: By the time Portland’s priciest condo building was finished, the downtown housing market wasn’t ready yet for the high-end housing. Bowen owed half a billion in loans, which was more than the project was worth — an estimated $425 million. When Bowen sold to Ready Capital last year, that raised new questions about whether the city would be able to collect on the fee — an issue that was apparently resolved in a deal between the new owner and the city. [Oregonian]

Gas Is Now $5 a Gallon

In Oregon, gas is now $5 a gallon on average — $1 more than a year ago, and 85 cents more than a month ago. Nationwide, gas is the most expensive it’s been in four years. [KOIN]

• Cheapest gas: The least expensive gas in the Portland area can be found at the Arco on Southeast Belmont ($4.39 a gallon for cash) and at Love’s Travel Shop in Troutdale ($4.49 a gallon, again the cash price). [KOIN Tracker]

Google Data Centers’ Water Guzzling

Google data centers consumed nearly 40% of all the water that was used in The Dalles last year. It’s a notable revelation that comes as the state grapples with the environmental impact of the industry — and it’s information the Oregonian newspaper had to go to court to find out. In The Dalles, environmentalists are concerned that data centers will impact the Dog River, the source of much of the city’s water and home to endangered and threatened salmon and steelhead. [Oregonian]

Intel Going to Work on an Elon Musk Project

Intel announced that it will work on Elon Musk’s “Terafab” project, which is looking to build semiconductor factories. Intel’s involvement will include work with SpaceX, Tesla, and xAI. But it’s not clear what role Intel will play or how significant the development is. The company didn’t send out a press release or submit filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission — “as publicly traded companies must do when they have significant financial news,” the Oregonian reports. But Intel’s stock price rose 2% after the announcement on X/Twitter. [Oregonian]